Doesn’t have to be women, I’ve accidentally startled dudes as well. Being a pretty broad and tall dude I usually only keep my size in mind to keep out of the way or make sure I don’t bump into things or hit my head on stuff.

But when I think about it, of course it would be intimidating to run across someone a foot and a half taller and twice your weight. It would be like me being tailed by Shaq in the middle of the night.

Oh you haven’t been paying attention to the conservatives saying that we shouldn’t support Ukraine then? Cause they have absolutely been saying that. It’s part of why the spending bill to delay the shutdown of the government had to remove aid to Ukraine to be able to pass.

I already said the house is a cesspool? Of course there’s going to be people who don’t fall in line, conservatives are contrarian in nature.

And what do you mean Biden could do nothing? His job is to be the best politician. His job is to run the country and be the stop gap for checks and balances. He has the right and ability to talk to the people and the Congress about what is needed as a country.

His job is to be the head of state, not to get involved with politicians in Congress. He has no authority over Congress, he has no leverage over Congress, and attempting to do so would conflict with the balance of power.

What do you think he could say to convince the most radical conservatives in Congress to do anything productive?

Just because we are so divided that it would be bad doesn’t mean that’s not what the position is for.

I mean, that’s literally not what the position is for…

The aid offer is definitely a bribe to get them to try and force a speaker election. That’s hardly conspiracy even if it is on technicality.

Lol, they’ve had like half a dozen in a few weeks… It’s not like they’re trying to stall, or that they don’t want to elect a speaker, they’re just shit at organizing because the allowed radicals in their party.

They would have voted anyways, there’s no need to bribe anyone.

The house can’t fucking pick a speaker and it’s not looking good so instead of the president trying to talk to the representatives he decided to just skip over them and basically wave a check for 100 billion in the air for the military industrial complex (one of the oldest lobbying groups) to basically figure it out for him for their reward.

I think this is overcomplicating a pretty simple dilemma. The house is a shit show, mainly because the conservative party stopped any sort of quality control after they made gains with the freedom caucus. Despite this they have always been more protective over the Senate, where foreign policy is dictated.

Biden has zero ability to negotiate with the house, any way he could get involved would likely just make things worse. Plus, why would he even want to interrupt his opponents from looking incompetent? Even conservative media outlets have been struggling to retcon this debacle.

Both the executive and the Senate know that supporting the Ukranians is a priority for Western interest. It doesn’t take a conspiracy to get the liberals and conservatives to reach across the aisle on foreign policy, it’s usually the only thing they agree upon.

This is just the Executive and Senate insuring that the lights stay on while the kids in the house figure their shit out.